The evolution of the singer-songwriter

Finding a voice

The version of the singer-songwriter that we recognise today was born in the ‘60s - also the crucial era when women began to assume equal ownership of the sphere.

From the bedsits of Earls Court to the sun-drenched canyons of California, this new generation of singer-songwriters came of age at around the time of 1967’s Summer of Love, and gave rise to a legion of superstars in the following decade.

The form seemed to die out amid the electronic-led sounds of the ‘80s music scene, but in fact it was merely laying low, changing shape and getting ready to stage a massive-scale comeback - one that pretty much nobody saw coming.

Today’s singer-songwriters have one foot in the folksy traditions of their distant forebears, but the other is squarely planted in the brave new world of YouTube, Twitter and iTunes.

Woody Guthrie - This Land is Your Land

1940

Proudly left-wing folkster Woody Guthrie had “This machine kills fascists” written on his guitar. A protest song often mistaken for a patriotic anthem, This Land is Your Land is his immortal ode to America.

Woody Guthrie - This Land is Your Land

Jacques Brel - Amsterdam

1964

Belgian bard Brel showed that singer-songwriters could be witty, literate, romantic, sleazy - and European. Amsterdam has been covered by Scott Walker and David Bowie, among others.

Jacques Brel - Amsterdam

Bob Dylan - Subterranean Homesick Blues

1965

Dylan takes us on a wild ride of beatnik folk-punk with a stream-of-consciousness lyrical romp that’s still guaranteed to blow the mind - and perhaps the most emulated pop video ever.

Bob Dylan - Subterranean Homesick Blues

Joni Mitchell - Big Yellow Taxi

1970

Gorgeously melodic eco-awareness from Mitchell at her most angelic: “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot”. The song was famously critiqued by a certain Alan Partridge of BBC Radio Norwich.

Joni Mitchell - Big Yellow Taxi

Don McLean - American Pie

1971

Over the full-length version’s numerous verses, the often bizarre lyrics of American Pie have become music’s equivalent of The Da Vinci Code. Cracking tune, though.

Don McLean - American Pie

Billy Bragg - Between the Wars

1985

At last a Brit joins our list! In the ‘80s, the ‘big-nosed Bolshevik from Barking’ implausibly revived the Guthrie tradition for a post-punk generation.

Billy Bragg - Between the Wars

Tracy Chapman - Fast Car

1988

Standing for integrity and compassion, activist singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman was a leading light of a late-‘80s acoustic sorority that included Suzanne Vega, Michelle Shocked and Tanita Tikaram.

Tracy Chapman - Fast Car

Elliott Smith - Miss Misery

1997

The suicide of Kurt Cobain cast a dark pall over the ‘90s, and Elliott Smith (who was later also to die at his own hand) was the man who best expressed the decade’s pain.

Elliott Smith - Miss Misery

Erin McKeown - Slung Lo

2003

McKeown isn’t a megastar like Jack Johnson or Norah Jones, but Slung Lo perfectly represents the kind of happy/poppy acoustic vibe that has become ubiquitous in mobile phone adverts and the like.

Erin McKeown - Slung Lo

PJ Harvey - The Words that Maketh Murder

2011

One of the highlights of 2011 was seeing Polly Harvey perform this jagged gem with her autoharp on daytime TV while seated next to a dumbfounded David Cameron.